Seattle Mariners: Will Michael Morse's Power Surge Continue Through the Season?

With spring training coming to an end in just a few days, Seattle Mariners fans can't help but be excited by the impressive display of power the team has put on the past month.

Though almost every player on the team has gotten in on the fun as the team has set a new spring club record with 56 blasts, newcomer Michael Morse has without a doubt lead the way.

The former Washington National has got his second stint with the Mariners started with a bang, literally.

As of Thursday's game against the Cubs, the 6'5" monster-of-a-man has hit a league-high nine homers. Those nine are also good for a new team record with two games left to be played before the start of the regular season.

But can Seattle expect this impressive showing to carry over into the season?

That's an easy answer: yes.

Splitting the first eight years of his career between Seattle and Washington, Morse's name has flown under the radar due to the two teams' lack of success.

The past two years have been somewhat of his coming-out party, though it's gone largely unnoticed.

In 2011 Morse played over 100 career games for the first time, 146 to be exact, and he thanked the Nats for that by putting up monster numbers. By the season's end he had posted a .303 batting average with 31 home runs and 95 RBI.

How many home runs will Morse finish the year with?

0-1920-2425-2930-3940+Submit Votevote to see results

How many home runs will Morse finish the year with?

0-19

0.3%

20-24

8.7%

25-29

28.9%

30-39

45.8%

40+

16.3%

Total votes: 356

It seemed that the big man had finally reached his stride and looked to continue in 2012 before injury limited him to only 102 games. While battling injuries Morse still managed to put up a .291 average with 18 HR and 62 RBI.

Over the past couple years he's been a big part of the Nationals' rise to the top of baseball, but thanks to players like Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg, Morse has had his success kept under wraps.

That might have actually been a good thing for the M's as they were able to snag Morse in a three-way deal by giving up a catcher in John Jaso, who more than likely would have been out of Seattle by the end of the season anyway due to Jesus Montero and Mike Zunino clogging up the backstop spot.

Now Michael "Beastmode" Morse, in his age 31 season, will have his time to shine.

He'll arguably be the offensive star for the young Mariners, and his veteran presence in the clubhouse will go a long way in what will hopefully be a successful season.

Barring injury, there's no reason to think Morse can't put up his first 30/100 season with a near .300 average batting out of the cleanup spot.

Morse fans, Mariners fan and baseball fans in general should be looking forward to and anticipating the monster season he is about to put on, because it could and should be special.